VanKirk, also known as "Dutch," was the navigator of the Enola Gay. The B-29 Superfortress aircraft dropped "Little Boy" — the world's first atomic bomb — over the Japanese city of Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945. The bomb killed 140,000 in Hiroshima and 80,000 in Nagasaki three days later. Van Kirk was 24 years old at the time.

In a 2005 interview with The Associated Press, VanKirk said his World War II experience showed that wars and atomic bombs don't settle anything, and he'd like to see the weapons abolished.